knitting for beginners

Ok, here we go. This has the potential to be super mega long, so I'd do my extended entry trick (i.e. you'll have to click on Tell me More! to read the whole thing) (my extendable posts don't work any more, sorry about that!). If you're a knitter and have additional advice please don't hesitate to add to the comments section. I also want to add here in the beginning that this is based on my experience, and everybody's experience is different, blah blah blah, so your mileage may vary. Also also, this is based on the idea that you are in the States, as I am basing my audience on my sister and my cousin, both of whom want to start knitting, so that means sizing will be in US terms.

Step One: Get some yarn and needles.



This may seem like an obvious step but if you're like me you're thinking "okay, but which yarn and which needles?" So I'm going to advise you to do something I couldn't didn't have patience for - go to your LYS. This stands for Local Yarn Shop. Then, pick out a yarn you like. What you're looking for is something that appeals to you, whether it's the color, the fiber content, or the price range. However, I do recommend something a little on the bigger side, so here's where you'll have to pay attention. On the label of every skein of yarn there is a handy gauge chart to tell you about the size of the yarn and the appropriate needles to use. Here's an example:



This little square tells you which needles are appropriate and how many rows and stitches you need to knit to make a 10 inch square, which is the gauge. Let's not worry about the gauge and just look at the needle size. In this example, the optimal size needles are a size seven. For your first skein, I would recommend yarn somewhere around the nine to ten and a half range so you can really see what you're doing. Grab about three skeins because you're eventually going to make a scarf once you get going.

Now, needles. Needles come in a wide variety of materials, including plastic, aluminum, wood and bamboo. For your first needles, I highly recommend wood or bamboo. It's more expensive but the yarn really grips to these kinds of needles and you don't have to worry so much about needles slipping off your yarn which can drive you freaking batty when you're just starting out.

Step Two: Go home and turn on your computer.

Specifically, you want to point your browser to knittinghelp.com. This is where you're going to learn everything you need to know to get you started. This website is amazing because she offers videos for most of the techniques you can think of and you can learn them at your own pace, whenever you need them, in the comfort of your own home. I'll walk you through the beginning, and then you're on your own.

The first thing you need to learn is to cast on, which is how you get your yarn on the needle and start your project. I suggest you learn the long tail cast on which happens to be the featured video on the main page right now, but can normally be found on the page called "Get Started and Learn to Knit" by clicking on "View Knitting Videos." Watch the video, start casting on, and then frog (what we call ripping out the stitches and starting over) your cast on and practice some more! When you feel ready to continue, get ready to knit, so go on to the page about the Knit Stitch.

A couple of things you should know: First of all, if you're left handed (like me!) I strongly recommend you try knitting right handed first. Believe me, I am as lefty as they come, I totally consider my right hand to be stupid, but I knit right handed. This is largely because I didn't have the crutch of someone sitting in front of me so I could mirror them; I only had these videos to mimic, so that's what I did. If you really, really can't follow these videos, you'll have to find someone to either teach you or let you mirror them for a while (or, like the website suggests, you could hold up a mirror to your monitor).

Secondly, there are two major methods of knitting and you'll have to choose one: the English method (which I do), in which the yarn is held in the right hand and "thrown" onto the needle, or the Continental method, in which the yarn is held in the left hand, and is faster but may need a little longer to excel in. Check out the videos for both of these methods and try them, then pick one.

Now. I recommend knitting a few rows, like maybe ten or so, then frog and start over. Your goal is to have your rows and stitches looking uniform; this means that your tension is good and this is very important later on down the road.

Once you feel comfortable with the knit stitch, try out the purl stitch. Remember which method you picked for knitting? Check out the corresponding video for the purl stitch. Then practice your purling technique. Remember (and this will make more sense after you've got your feet wet): knitting every row makes a garter stitch, knitting one row and then purling the next row makes the stockinette stitch.

If you really want to get adventurous, you can try a rib stitch. Cast on in multiples of four (twenty stitches would be good) and then knit two stitches, purl two stitches, etc. until you get to the end of the row. Don't forget that before you purl, you have to bring the yarn to the front of the work, and then to the back of the work before you knit! When you start the next row, you'll do knit two, purl two, all the way down again. After ten rows or so you'll see the rib pattern start to emerge.

So how long does this take? As long as you're willing to practice. It's going to be different for everybody, depending on how much time you have for watching videos and how fast you pick everything up. After a couple of days of practicing and frogging and practicing again, I was starting my first project, and you can, too.

So you've got a few skeins of yarn, what better first project than a scarf? First, decide what kind of pattern you like: garter makes a pretty and warm scarf, rib makes a fun pattern all the way down, or you can experiment with your knits and purls. Then cast on and keep on knitting until you're nearly out of yarn. Don't forget to watch the video to learn how to cast off when you're done and you'll be finished with your very first project!

Next time: Where do I go from here?

clean streak

It's coming down in buckets today, which means it's a perfect time for some serious cleaning up around here. This morning I cleaned the bedroom from top to bottom and this afternoon will be the office's turn, which has been in dire need of a good cleaning for months now. It's weird, the office is easily the room where we spend the most time but is the room I tend to ignore when it's time to clean. Anyway, I'll be turning this room upside down and shaking out the cobwebs and then I can zone out for the rest of the afternoon and listen to the rain, or maybe write that beginner's knitting post. We shall see.

Yesterday the sun came out for a minute so I ran over to Troyes to do some errands. I actually went downtown to take this picture because it is so funny that I had to share it with you:



If you can't figure out why it's so funny, click the picture so you can see a bigger version of it. It's pretty classy, if I do say so myself.

Alright then, out of my way, I need to get back to cleaning quick before I lose the momentum of my cleaning streak!

my new imaginary boyfriend

So y'all may have noticed that I'm finally starting to get into French music, especially since we got the TNT box and I have access to music videos that I can leave on in the background while I'm doing other stuff, which is nice because I cannot get the radio to pick up a signal out here in Tiny Town for love nor money. Occasionally I'll link a song I like to my Myspace page (I've still got a fun song on there y'all should check out) and every once in a while I'll post a video here. But this time, I have fallen, but hard.

I'd like to introduce you to Renan Luce. He is what I guess you could call a folk pop singer. His songs are full of clever lyrics and melodies that stick in your head, and his videos are quirky and clever as well. Oh - and he's easy on the eyes, too. Very easy. Mmm!

This is his first video for "Les Voisines" (which means "The Neighbors"). The first person that can name the movie this video is based from wins a virtual cookie.

state of the union 2008

You can read about why I do this instead of New Year's resolutions right here.

When I look back at where I was a year ago - and one of the miraculous things about writing a blog is that you can do just that! - it seems like I'm reading about the life of an entirely different person. This time last year I was heavily in mourning, having lost my Dad two months before, and since his death was hot on the heels of Mom's death I was simply stunned into inaction. But, at the same time, I could feel the change coming, and I knew instinctively that the worse would pass and I'd be able to get on with it.

But, it would take a few months to get there. In the meantime, I "consoled" myself with food, ballooning up to my heaviest weight ever. Thanks to an intervention from my doctor and the help of a dietitian, I lost twenty pounds last year and I intend to continue with the good habits we learned last year. And I'm here to tell y'all that losing weight will do wonders for your outlook on life. Seriously.

This time last year I was learning how to knit. Now knitting has become such an important outlet for me - not just creatively, but thanks to the internet I can connect with other knitters around the world to learn how to do it better, celebrate beautiful FOs and commiserate when it all goes wrong. I cannot believe that I went from not even knowing how to hold the needles to successfully knitting a sweater for my husband in one year! I've had a lot of friends and family ask me for advice on starting to knit, so I'm going to write about it, hopefully this week. I don't claim to be any kind of expert, but I have been a beginner and I know what it's like!

Of course, we had the ultimate good news in finding out I was pregnant and the worst disappointment when I miscarried in December. I certainly do have a way in making the holidays more challenging! Stéph and I have chosen to see this event in all the positive lights we can - we quit smoking, our healthier lifestyle is certainly helping, and most importantly, it's possible for us to get pregnant! We have high hopes that it's going to happen again soon.

As for 2008, well, Stéph and I have a lot of "maybes" and "if this happens then we can do this" sorts of things in the works. If nothing else, we've learned that life is full of surprises and we can't plan everything down to the last detail. Who knows what's in store for us this year, but like I do every January, I'm ready to turn the page and look towards the future with a positive attitude. Bring it on, 2008!

greetings from fog central

The last few weeks the temperature has been slowly creeping up the dial, so much so that people were starting to talk about an early spring. That is, until the bottom dropped out Thursday night.

Yesterday was supposed to be a cold but sunny day, but thanks to a huge drop in temperatures and the ground being very warm, we had The Fog That Would Not Burn Off yesterday. At no point in the day did the fog clear and it was so bad that you could barely see ten feet in front of you.

It was under these conditions that I drove to Troyes yesterday to meet up with Doc and the rest of the American Citizens of Haute-Marne (of which there seems to be three, total). Thus I am very happy to report that Doc is both alive and well, albeit exhausted from caring for three very sick babies. There was a lot of "I'm just gonna run in here for a minute" up and down the main shopping drag in Troyes, and I actually went inside and bought yarn from Bergère de France for gifties, one of which is LONG overdue. Then we hung out and drank hot chocolate and had snacks of the sugary variety (we had to keep up our blood sugar levels, honestly!) and gossiped before heading our seperate ways back into the fog.

Today, the fog is still here, but as of this writing at 2:30pm it looks like it's finally starting to burn off a little and I can actually see a little blue when I look up. Here's hoping it clears up before the next batch of gray clouds descend on us!

it's still christmas around here

I don't usually post pictures of gifts before I give them to their recipients, but if you listen to the katia and kyliemac show and you listen to episode 112, I was knitting while we chatted and I said that I should be done before the show went live and that you could stop by and see the final product. Plus, my sister, who these socks are for, already knows about the gift, and she'll probably be happy to know that they're done and nearly on the way.

I did actually finish them Tuesday and caught a little ray of sunshine before the sun went down to take a picture:



And before you say "it's a little late for Christmas presents, isn't it?" let me just say "ha ha! you must not be a knitter!" and also mention that I didn't received my gift from my sister last year until February, so we reckon that this clears the slate (though I should note that it wasn't her fault and that she did ship the gift well before Christmas, that's just the way it goes around Christmas time).

vivi goes to hell

I limped my way to Paris this past weekend and had a wonderful time, as always. I got to check in with Miss Flare (who brought me goodies from the US! Thanks Flare!), spent some quality time in the Coffee Table Studio, went to a bar and met interesting people and drank a beer and went home without smelling like an ashtray - and I didn't even crave a cigarette the whole time! - and relived my college days with Kyle Mac by indulging in real American-style pizza and beer.

But the real reason I was there was to go straight to hell. (Sorry, link's in French)

So - L'Enfer de la Bibliothèque, or The Hell of the Library, is an exhibit going on at the National Library of France. "Hell" is the section of the library that was created at the beginning of the 19th century for all documents that were considered indecent, whether political or sexual, and locked away from the eyes of the general public. The exhibit not only covers the history of Hell, but also shows an overview of documents that have been stored there for centuries. Absolutely fascinating exhibit, but only available through March and not open to those sixteen years and younger - there are, after all, loads of penises and vaginae on display.

So after all that excitement, Kylie Mac and I needed something of a palette cleanser, if you will, so we took advantage of one of the many (free!) museums just lying around Paris waiting for someone to come give them a visit, so we opted for the Petit Palais. Built for the 1900 World's Fair, this "little palace" now holds a permanent collection of art through the ages and is an absolutely stunning example of Art Nouveau architecture and style.


Be sure to click so you can appreciate how gorgeous this place is!

I enjoyed this visit very much and if you've got a couple of hours to spare, I think you will, too. Unlike some of the larger museums of Paris, this one is easily doable in an afternoon with time to sit and have a drink in the café and you can leave satisfied that you saw everything there is to see. You can't say that about many others.

from fabulous to annoyed in six hours flat

Yesterday we were due for a whopper of a storm in the afternoon, so I took my foot out for a spin in the morning as I had a couple of errands to run. One of them was one I'd been putting off for nearly a year. I can't remember if I mentioned it here, but I broke my fancy-schmancy frameless eyeglasses, and in the stupidest way possible - I laid down for a nap and put my glasses next to me. Yep, you can imagine what happened next. I've been wearing glasses half my life and now I break them? Anyway, they weren't destroyed, just one of the arms came off where it connects to the glasses, so I'd been just sticking the arm back in its slot. But it's been getting worse and worse and I knew it was time to bite the bullet and just go.

Much to my surprise, not only did the woman remember me from two years ago, but she fixed my glasses for me right that minute for free (yes you read that right!) and told me that if this quick fix didn't do the trick, I'd have to drop them off for a couple of days. So far, the glasses are holding up just fine.

This, y'all, is why living in a small town is the best!

Unfortunately, things went downhill from there. I had a couple of twinges in my foot during my walk, but it got worse while I was making lunch and right when I was finishing up my foot actually spasmed. So, off I went to the doctor.

One of the peculiar things about our doctor is that he takes appointments in the morning and the afternoons are first come first serve. I called to see if I could get an appointment for Wednesday morning but he wasn't going to be there, so I didn't have much of a choice. I arrived a half an hour before his scheduled afternoon time and there were already seven people ahead of me. Then he was half an hour late. Then he took an extraordinarily long time between patients (to the point that we were kind of looking at each other in the waiting room saying "what the hell is he doing in there?"). Finally, my turn came two and a half hours after I walked in the door.

This is why living in a small town can suck.

And the most frustrating part is that he's a really good doctor and both Stéph and I like him. Though I have to say, yesterday he did seem way more rushed than usual. However, he did poke and prod my foot a few times, prescribed me some anti-inflammatory pills and cream, and told me I could go on my urban adventure this weekend as long as I wear shoes with very thick soles.

Why is it that sitting in a doctor's waiting room for so long can drain the will to live?

Anyway, all systems are go for my urban adventure this weekend and I'm hoping to catch up with a few friends along the way. I'll be the one wearing hiking boots in the middle of a very cosmopolitan city. Be sure to say hi.

moaning is the best medicine

Of course you know that the day after I bitched about my foot it started getting better the next day. And here I thought my drama queen days were over! It's not quite perfect but I'm not getting stabbing pains anymore when I stand on it for two minutes, so it's definitely improving. Today I'm going to the grocery and tomorrow I'll try my usual walking route and we'll see where we are after all that.

I sincerely hope tomorrow's walk is good because I've been invited on a very interesting urban adventure this weekend and I really want to go. More to come on that as soon as I know if my foot will be up to the task.

Also, I just have to say that one of the pleasures of living here in winter is walking back home from the boulangerie with a warm baguette in your cold hands. It's the little things, you know.

my stupid foot

Why is it that when I get one thing sorted out, something else has to go all wonky, and why does this always have to happen to something in my body? For about a week now, my right foot has been giving me problems, and believe me, with my pantheon of former foot problems, this is a new one on me.

Basically, if I stand on it for more that five minutes or try to walk more than ten paces, I start getting stabbing pains in the outside of my foot. If I don't have any pressure on it (ie sitting down) it doesn't hurt at all. This means that something as simple as whipping a meal together has me howling by the time I sit down. It's gotten so bad that I've been limping around the house trying not to stay on my feet too long but it isn't lessening up. Going to the grocery yesterday was an adventure, let me tell you.

The only thing I can think of that is causing this is a)I started wearing my old clogs again that I haven't worn in ages, but the pain is coming whether I'm wearing shoes or slippers or socks; or b) all that walking I did last Wednesday in Troyes, but I felt totally fine all day and I didn't notice the pain until two days after. I don't remember tripping or twisting my ankle or anything.

So I'm pretty well annoyed because this is stopping me from taking my afternoon walks (when the weather is nice, which is rare but still!) and some other stuff I'd like to do, like go back to Troyes with my camera and take some photos of some things that tickled my fancy last week. I'm hoping it will sort itself out but I guess if it's the same next week I'll have to go to the doctor... again. I swear we should have a discount.

In other news, I found out that yesterday was dulurking day (thank you to Jaynee for delurking to say hello and also giving me a heads up!). Of course I'm a day late and a dollar short, as usual, but if you'd like to drop a line and say hello in Ye Olde Comments Boxe, I promise to return the favor!

meanwhile, back in france

I know it's been all about me here for a while (and honestly, isn't it supposed to be like that on my own blog? but I digress...) but there have been some interesting developments here in France recently. For example:

France goes non smoking Last year smoking was banned from public places such as malls, businesses, grocery stores (!) and hospitals (!!!), but last Wednesday the new non-smoking rules went into affect, targeting bars, cafés, restaurants and nightclubs. Actually, for Stéph and I, this couldn't have come at a better time. Before we quit smoking, we actually fretted about the ban - "where are we going to go for a coffee and a smoke? how we will enjoy our dining experience?" but since we quit we've been avoiding our local café so as to resist the temptation of buying a pack of smokes and lighting them up right there. Now we feel like we can go wherever we want, and it's lovely. Plus, a lot of people predicted that the cafés would curl up and die with their smoking patrons gone, but I'm glad to report that last Wednesday, strolling around Troyes, they looked pretty busy to me.

Sarkozy gets a girlfriend So if you're not up on French current events, a few months ago, Sarkozy and his wife split up, making him the first President to be divorced in office since... well Napoleon, actually. Never mind the fact that the separation was announced right at the beginning of a massive transport strike in a very "no! look over here at the shiny toy!" kind of way. But now the President is dating Carla Bruni, an Italian model and singer, and the French media has gone absolutely apeshit. Not only has the "legitimate" press been following them on excursions to Disneyland Paris and Egypt, but at Sarkozy's first press conference, the second question was about his relationship with the model. I'm pretty sure we can expect a wedding announcement at the next financial or strike crisis.

It's the soldes! Today marks the beginning of the bi-annual shopping sales, which will last about three weeks or a month or so. Today is kind of like Black Friday in the States, where crazy shopping freaks actually staked out what they wanted to buy yesterday so they would be able to swoop in today and grab what they want without the time consuming hassle of trying it on. Typically we like to wait until at least the first week is over before we go see what's left - it's not that we couldn't use some new things but the crowds are so ridiculous, especially here where we have two major outlet shopping centers, that it just isn't worth the bother.

watch out 2008

Well, hi there! Sorry it's been so long. I was feeling so much better last week that I didn't even dare stop to blog about it, lest it all disappear and sends me back to my icky, crabby self. But no! The first week of 2008 was pretty nice, all things considered! 2007 was crap all the way until the end, as the special shrimp Stéph and I bought to eat for NYE tasted like they had been packed in salt, and we could only get a few down before we had to throw the rest away. Poor little shrimps died in vain.

But the very next day I finally started feeling better! Wednesday I spent the day wandering around Troyes with a friend that came into town. We were so lucky with the weather - finally blue skies after weeks of shotgun gray. It was cold but we warmed up with frequent café stops and shopping expeditions. I came away with a new book and I also rescued one of my all time favorite movies from the bargain bin. Incidentally, we watched it last night and I was so pleased that the movie still holds up and even Stéph liked it!

Friday night we had Stéph's friend JP over for a big dinner of moules frites. We hadn't seen him since summer and it was great to catch up. Then Saturday night we had dinner with Stéph's brother, wife, their three kids and a couple of other guests for a nice big tartiflette (gotta get those calories in while it can still be considered "the holidays"!).

Today Stéph went back to work and so did I, getting some articles written up and making a grocery run. Of course, not everything is running smoothly and I forgot my list, which automatically means I forgot something, but this will give me an excuse to get out of the house tomorrow. For now, the house is (relatively) clean, the sky is blue and the sun is shining through my window, and I'm going to enjoy the rest of this afternoon. All I can say right now is bring it 2008, I'm ready for ya!

2007 ends with a whimper

Oh dear, what an "interesting" week we've had around here! Unfortunately, it was one medical blunder after another and happily I'm finally feeling a bit better and ready to ring in the new year, but it has been a very rough few days.

It all actually started last weekend when I was sort of feeling out of sorts but couldn't explain why. My back hurt, my knees hurt - I was all around feeling funky. It wasn't until Christmas day, when I took an aspirin for a headache and broke out into a sweat that I realized I had a fever! What's so sad is that I didn't even recognize a fever without stuffed up sinuses or a hacking cough. But the thing is, when you've had a miscarriage, they tell you to be on the watch for fevers, as this could be a sign of a uterus infection - not good news!

So we managed to get into a doctor here in Tiny Town on Wednesday, who told me that it probably was an infection, put me on the strongest non-penicillin antibiotic he could think of, and told me that if I still had a fever on Friday that I'd have to get in touch with my icky doctor. Well, don't you know, Friday rolls around and the fever is still there, but my icky doctor is on vacation! (Of course he is, because that's my luck in a nutshell.)

So we call the urgent care of the clinic where my icky doctor practices, and they set me up with the icky doctor on call at the clinic. She doesn't quite know what's going on, as now not only do I have a fever and random back and tummy pain, but a massive headache to boot. She sends me off for an ultrasound, where the ultrasound doctor tells me that there is no infection in my uterus. Hooray! No, he said, it's probably just a virus in my kidneys or liver or something. Do what?

So we go back to the icky doctor on call, who tells me that since it's probably just a virus, it should clear up in a week or less and that I should stay on the antibiotic through today so I don't become immune to it. Of course, my headache only gets worse and we finally realize that it's the antibiotic that's giving me enormous pulsating migranes and we make the decision amongst ourselves to cut the dosage down in half, and the migranes have very nearly disappeared.

Today I'm feeling the best I've felt in weeks and to be honest it's just a relief. But just because I was feeling bad doesn't mean I wasn't productive:



I wanted desperately to get it done in time for Christmas Eve, but I just couldn't do it. At least I got it done for the end of the year! My very last FO for 2007 is certainly my most difficult to date, but it looks great and IT FITS! Hallelujah!

As for New Year's Eve, we had been invited out but I've been so sick for so long that we just decided to stay home this year and have a quiet celebration. We went to the grocery store a little while ago and picked up some New Year's goodies and we'll likely celebrate in front of the tv with a glass of wine and plenty of good food to ring in the New Year.

Wherever you are in the world and however you're celebrating, I wish you a very Happy New Year! Roll on, 2008!!

merry merry!

The bad news is the sweater didn't get done. Having to redo the sleeves put me too far behind and I still have about four inches of the yoke to go. Hopefully I'll still get that done in the next couple of days.

The good news is that we got our butts in gear and got the Christmas cookies baked and packed! Because our EZ bake oven is so small, we can only bake about 10 cookies at a time, we decided to do one double batch on Saturday and one on Sunday. I had cracked and crushed enough walnuts for the first batch over the last week, so while the first batch was baking, we worked together to crack and crush another four kilos (nearly nine pounds!) of walnuts. Then it was just a matter of time to let them cool...


about 1/5 of all the cookies!

and then packed them in these fancy tins (which are commonly used for holding sugar cubes for coffee and tea, so they're practical, too!)...



and I just finished wrapping them all up:


check my mad wrapping skillz!

We'll be off in about an hour and a half to pick up the cheese and wine for the big dinner tonight and we'll probably get home around 2am, since we open our gifts to each other after dinner. Christmas is definitely an exercise in endurance in this family!

Other than that, I'm doing ok. During the last few days I've been unbelievably tired and suffering from freaky flash mood swings, going literally from laughing to crying within seconds (poor Stéph!!). I sincerely hope this is just my hormones being out of whack because I feel like I've been walking through water these last few days.

Well, nevermind, Christmas is my favorite holiday and I plan to enjoy it! Whether you're celebrating tonight or tomorrow, I hope all of you that are celebrating have a wonderful time!

healing

First of all, I have to thank you all very much for the kind comments and emails I've received over the last week or so. It's frankly shocking how many people have been touched by miscarriage, personally or otherwise. I wouldn't wish it on anybody but it's comforting in a way to know how common it is.

So how am I doing? Now that's an interesting question, one which I thought I had the answer to. Yesterday morning I replied to most of the emails I'd received, saying that I was surprised at just how well I was doing - freakishly well, in fact. I somehow managed to schedule a fully packed week this week and that is doing a great deal of good. Of course, just hours after I sent those emails out, I had a full-on breakdown and was useless for the rest of the day.

Perhaps we should just say that I'm getting there, and leave it at that. We're choosing to say that yesterday afternoon I had a "hormonal day." I guess they're still out of whack, those crazy hormones.

And what have I been doing this wacky busy week? Well, I've been writing - twelve articles so far and three more to go, on an assignment that took much, much longer than it should have. Plus I attended a very interesting seminar in Troyes Tuesday morning (more on that to come) and then took the car in for its two year inspection in the afternoon. Plus we'd decided that we were going to make cookies for all the in-laws for Christmas (that's still five families, including Stéph's parents!) and I really wanted to make my Dad's famous Christmas Crescent Cookies, which we road tested last week and Stéph took the results to work. The only problem is that they require 2 cups of crushed to nearly powder pecans for each batch. Pecans in France are brutally expensive, and if I bought enough for five batches it would have cost me 32€ for the pecans alone! So we're going with walnuts. But this means I've been cracking open walnuts and crushing them in my handy nut crusher (tee hee!) every day and I still have plenty of nuts to crush (ha!). The real shame is that my grandmother has more pecans than she can handle thanks to three or four pecan trees at the farm and there are literally buckets of the things lying around. If only we'd thought of it in advance! Oh - I'm also determined to finish Stéph's sweater before Monday evening, even though I only discovered this weekend that I'd knitted the wrong size sleeves and had to start them over.

See? Totally busy.

Tomorrow I'm going to Stéph's work Christmas lunch at one of the few nice restaurants here in Tiny Town. I'm really touched that Stéph insists on including me in these outings, especially since it's at lunchtime I'm sure to be the only spouse there. The best part is that the menu is done in advance, and Stéph forgot to bring me the menu to choose, so he chose for me based on what I don't like. For example, he chose the meat meal because he knows I don't like fish, and the foie gras entrée because I can't stand salade de gesiers. That made me smile today.

Ooh but this didn't - at lunch Stéph came home and told me that we were invited out to a colleague's home for dinner tomorrow night. The invitation was actually made last week, and he does this all the freaking time, but I'm so thrilled to be going out that I really don't care. The only problem is that he volunteered an apple pie, and guess who gets to do that tomorrow? Well, at least we know I'm not having a hormonal day, since I took the news in stride.

loss

This past month has been one of the happiest cluster of weeks in my whole life. It's been a dream come true; something both Stéph and I have been working towards for years. Plus, because of the timing of the thing, we both felt like this was literally heaven sent.

But it wasn't meant to be.

Wednesday night I miscarried at ten weeks, five days. Since that time, I have been experiencing the worst pain I have ever felt in my life, both physically and emotionally. In an unprecedented move, I am letting my family take care of me, for a change.

I know that we are going to get past this, and we are going to try again, and to tell you the truth, I was starting to worry that we couldn't even get this far, so it is a relief on some level to know that there can be an "again." But my heart, well, that's a different story. For now, it's back to the drugs, and oblivion.

seven more things

I know.... I know. I'm exasperated with myself! I promise you, I have a really, really good reason for not posting very much right now. You're just gonna have to be patient with me until about Christmas day. Really.

So Miz JChavais over at No Place Like It tagged me a little while ago for the seven things meme. I honestly thought that I'd done this one before, but I was thinking of this instead, so here are seven random things about me.

1. I really do not handle confrontation well, but that doesn't mean I don't have rip roaring, neck rotating, snap inducing arguments... in my mind. Even if I can't work up the courage to confront someone about something that really bothers me, I'll imagine the showdown down to the last detail, and I'll get so worked up about it that my heart will race and I'll break out in a sweat. I have lost nights of sleep over this.

2. I have been knitting for less than a year and I wish I could spend every waking hour doing something related to it. My goal for next year is to create a knitting blog (from scratch if I'm really ambitious) and my long term goal is to learn how to spin and dye. How I'm going to learn to spin out here in the boonies, I have not yet figured out.

3. I haven't had a cigarette since November 9. I think I have finally flung this monkey off my back!!!

4. For the second year in a row, I have absolutely no desire to put up a Christmas tree. I know that last year it was because Dad was here the year before and the thought of getting through Christmas having just lost him was too difficult to bear. This year I can't be bothered because we're not expecting any guests, we'll be celebrating Christmas Eve with the family at Stéph's parents' home, and I don't want to clean up the huge mess. I still love Christmas, though!!

5. I have been wanting to get a cat since I got here. I got my first cat when I was a freshman in high school (I think) who of course became mom's cat when I went to college, but she would give me preferential treatment when I came home to visit. (The cat, not my mother.) I adopted an older cat the year before I moved here, and he was a great big furball. I even thought about bringing him with me, but I was moving from a small apartment to a small apartment with two people, and I thought that wasn't fair (because he was a big beastie and needed plenty of room to run!). Anyway, there are loads and loads of feral cats here in our neighborhood, and they fight, scream in the middle of the night, and rip open our garbage bags on garbage pick up nights. I'm not so sure I want a cat anymore.

6. I'm not too desperately homesick anymore (except for family and friends, obviously), but I do really miss my Sunday morning routine of picking up my favorite breakfast - toasted bagel with crispy bacon, cream cheese on the side, large coffee, (omg drool) - and the Sunday paper and going home and listening to NPR (I loved "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" and "Prairie Home Companion") and reading the paper from front to back all morning. *sigh*

7. I can't really think of a seven so... as much as I miss my American goodies, I don't know how I could live in a world where there aren't three boulangeries within a five minute's walk. Yay, France!

Now, normally I'm suppose to tag five people, but everytime I tag, I get yelled at, so if you wanna steal it, please do and let me know so I can link you here.

This is the cold that never ends

...it just goes on and on my friend...

Ugh. Ok, it's nearly over, with some residual sniffling and coughing still going on, but this past week has been awful and I'm SO GLAD it's nearly done. Let me see what else has been happening around here...

Stéph found out Friday that he's coming up for inspection on the 10th. Teachers are inspected around every four years or so (depending on how backed up the inspectors are, although Stéph's seems to be right on schedule) and they're required to be up to date with all that fun paperwork stuff that teachers JUST LOVE (oh sorry, did I drip some sarcasm on you?). So you can imagine that Stéph has been working double over time to get everything in order. That's not to say that he paperwork isn't in order, but it maybe wasn't as organized and pretty to look at as it could have been. For example, he spent most of the weekend redoing his daily planning so that it could be legible. Yes, it seems the details do count.

I've come to terms with the fact that no, none of my knitting projects are going to make it under any Christmas or other types of trees this year. The socks I was making for my sister are a complete bust - first done on needles to large, then on needles to small, I'd have to do them AGAIN on needles just right and I just can't be bothered. So I gave sis the option to choose another colorway if she didn't like the one I was using and apparently she didn't because she chose a new one. Well, it's just as well since I'd rather make her something that she'll actually wear.

We have not even started any type of Christmas shopping, thanks to me being ill and now this inspection thing. Coupled with the fact that we are freaking POOR and I don't know what we're going to do this year. It sucks because our inlaws always give us really nice, thoughtful gifts and I feel like we're pulling Christmas gifts out of our collective butts every year. (good gracious, what a mental image!) I've enjoyed making gifts for the nieces and nephew but this year I have neither the inspiration nor the time, so I don't know what we'll do there, either. Panicking shall start imminently...

Oh - I've been tagged (thank god!)! I've been asked to write about Seven Things, which I've done before and will happily do again as soon as I can think of more than one thing (I swear, my brain is leaking slowly out my ear) and also to show you the contents of my handbag, which should be both sad and short, since I don't think there's much in there. Exciting things to come!

down for the count

Yes, that very same evening of my last post I was officially sick. And I've been sick ever since. No/low fever, thank goodness, but stuffed nose, running nose and everything in between, plus some coughing and hacking and general moaning. I hate being sick and this has come at the absolute worst time possible.

I still have to tell you this funny story that Stéph told me before I go faint on the couch again. I really thought I was leaving Precious Little Snowflake Syndrome behind me when I moved here, but it turns out that this isn't so. It seems that Stéph received more than one complaint that the curtains in his second floor classroom are always shut and shouldn't he open them to allow the students to get some sunlight? These complaints came not from other teachers but from mothers. Yes, that means that these women have nothing better to do than wander around the school and stare at their children's classroom. That's the exciting life here in Tiny Town.

So Stéph capitulates and opens the curtains on one of the few sunny days we've had here in recent weeks. Of course, the heat of the sunlight in combination with the radiators that Stéph has no control over sends the temperature of the room to well over 30°C (over 85°F) which means they then have to open the windows, plus the glare of the sunlight means that no one could read the board. Stéph kindly asked the kids to tell their mommies what happens when the curtains are open and came home and told me about it and we had a good laugh.

weekend roundup

I finally got to celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday. We had initially planned to do a little Thanksgiving dinner here at home with a few friends, but a few things popped up to make that not really a viable option, so we decided to crash Doc's Thanksgiving bash instead. There were the usual Frenchies plus the extra bonus of Antipo and the three of us Anglos often were seen sneaking off to the kitchen to snigger and tell rude jokes and general snark in English. It was lovely. Oh - and the food was good, too. (photos to come)

This morning, Stéph woke up with a fever, and he even took his temperature on my old Fahrenheit thermometer. When it popped up 101.2, I told him that he should stay home or go to the doctor, but no, he had to be all manly and trudge to school anyway. Well, first he told me that 101.2 couldn't be a very high temperature even after I converted it for him in Celsius (that's 38.5 for those of you playing at home), he still insisted on going to work. At lunchtime he declared he was too sick to go back and needed to see a doctor instead, but it's hard as hell to get in to see just about any doctor in the afternoons here. Our doctor has a "first come first served" policy in the afternoons, but those tend to take forever. Nevertheless, Stéph was desperate to be able to go back to school tomorrow, so off we went and sat in the waiting room for an hour and a half. Turns out he has strep. Also turns out that my throat is getting scratchy. I am none too pleased.

happy thanksgiving!

It's that time of year again, when I have to explain to our French friends the concept of "giving thanks" for the good things in our lives. I get the feeling that most of them think it's a quaint puritan ritual framed around an enormous meal, but Thanksgiving has always been more than that for me. I love that there is a day in the calendar specifically set aside to take stock of the good things in our lives, like:

* my health, which I am constantly working towards improving
* my relationship with Stéph, which is always getting stronger
* my family, which is far away but thanks to modern technology, is only ever a computerized phone call away
* my friends, both here and in the States, who are a constant source of joy and support
* this blog, which has enriched my life here in France in so many ways
* my readers, who have managed to stick with me over the years even when I go through blogging droughts like I have in the last couple of weeks!

Today I invite all of you to take a moment and think about what you are thankful for in your lives, and if you feel like sharing, let us know what you're thankful for in the comments. And if you're in the States, have a great Thanksgiving and eat plenty of stuffing, corn bread and pecan pie for me!

PS: I seem to be having some RSS feed issues (thank you to Wendy for pointing it out). I think it's working for Bloglines but not for other readers like Google Reader. I've tried validating through Feedburner but apparently I have some issues and I might as well be reading that page in Greek, so if you are a computer-literate type person and can help me out, please shoot me an email, thanks!!

the slackiest slacker that ever slacked

Oh, hello. *sheepish grin*

I wish I had a really excellent excuse for not updating, but I don't. The weather's getting me down? Actually, the weather has been pretty miserable - rainy, dark and getting colder every day. I can't seem to focus on anything. I'm starting and frogging knitting projects, which is not helping my Christmas present list at all, never mind the fact that Christmas is like six weeks away and we haven't even thought about making a list of things to buy... ugh. Plus I'm thinking about totally starting over on my charity blanket which means I need to get a move on if I'm going to get it done on time.

So, to make up for it, I'm gonna give you a little treat. This song does nothing but make me laugh and bounce around the room like a big old dork. It's in French, obviously, but I think y'all will get the gist of it. I'm not usually a big fan of the comedian Mickael Youn, but he finally got me to laugh with "Parle à ma main," which means talk to my hand!



My favorite bits are the initials written on the hand which totally remind me of "TMI":

PI - pas interessée - not interested
çc - ça craint - that sucks
FBI - fausse bonne idée - not a good idea

And of course, at the end, Christelle gives her number to the guy, and it's a number for information (118 218) like 411.

Anyway, enjoy!

a walk in the park

The fall break is over and Stéph is back to work. The last week was very quiet, loads of computer and knitting and quiet time, punctuated by a little stomach bug that Stéph caught and kindly passed to me (thanks honey!). I'm sorry I didn't post much, because if I had it would have looked something like this:

Today I knit for a few hours in front of the tv, and then I did a load of laundry, and then we watched some more tv before bed.

Woo! Party time! Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, when the weather was still nice, I took my walk through town, which I try to do as often as I can to get out of the house a little if for no other reason, but this time I remembered my camera. I took quite a lot of photos, which can be seen on my flickr page, but here are a few highlights:

First I walk along this river that passes through our town:



Then I walk around the outside of the park and step inside on the opposite corner from where I started. In the park, I pass by my favorite trees, Wonky Tree and his little brother Bendy Tree:



At the end of the park is the chateau, which now serves as the Town Hall:



Once I leave the park, I pass by the church, which I've never been in, by the way, as its not open for visitors, only church goers:



And finally, here's a shot of the main drag of Tiny Town from my lane. You can just make out the church at the end of the street:



So, if you ever wondered, that gives you an idea of what Tiny Town looks like. To tell you the truth, I rather kind of like it.

in which we get tricked

Of course, most of you know that Halloween was two days ago. Halloween isn't a very popular holiday here, often thought of a commercial ruse to get the French to separate themselves from their money, which is a shame. I always loved Halloween, from roaming the neighborhood when I was a kid (remember back in the day when you could do that at the tender age of ten?) right up to Halloween parties as an adult.

So imagine our shock and surprise when someone knocked on the door Wednesday evening. We weren't even here last year (Stéph was experiencing his first American Halloween, carved pumpkin and all) so we had no idea that we should expect anyone. In the end we just didn't answer the door because, since we started eating better, we don't have anything remotely resembling a treat.

Turns out, for our neglect, we got tricked. And the funny part is that we didn't even know it until a someone knocked on our door last night. Turns out that a neighbor from around the corner had her son's car stolen and was going around warning folks (apparently there's been a rash of car problems here in Tiny Town), and it was she that told Stéph to take a look at the windshield of the car. Turns out it had been egged and floured, plus a little green food coloring for good measure.

In the end, it's hardly anything to get upset about - lord knows I've seen worse - and Stéph had wanted to wash the car since we got back anyway, so that gave him a little extra incentive.

However, I do think that if you're old enough to egg a car, you're too old for trick or treating. But maybe that's the bitter old lady in me coming out!

a long weekend away

I can't help it, it just sounds so pretentious - yes we went to the Alps for the weekend. Actually, we have friends there that we hadn't yet been to visit, so it was a trip that was a long time coming. Our friends live just outside of Grenoble, away from the noise and rush of the city. In fact, the poor things have to look at this out their windows everyday:



I don't know how they can stand it.

Anyway, Marc, Pooplette and MP3 were there (as Doc is currently gallivanting around the good ole US of A) and mostly what we did was lay around. It was great! The guys read or played games while I went to town on a new knitting project. There was so much laying around and chilling out that I burned through a skein and a half of yarn!

There was also all kinds of yummy, evil food like raclette and crêpes of both the savory and sweet variety. Plus we took some walks out in the gorgeous country side:







It was a pause that came exactly when we both needed it. Merci pour tous, M & S !!

gone to the mountains

This week absolutely got away from me. I had a ton of things I wanted to do, never mind post, but what can you do. To quote a common phrase from my college days, "Acknowledge, and move on!" So I am.

Today is the first day of the Toussaint, or All Saint's Day school break. Stéph's off for a week and a half and today we're going to catch up with some friends in a town I've never been to before - Grenoble! It's supposed to be gorgeous this weekend, albeit a little chilly, but it's looking pretty crappy out our windows right now, so we'll see. Méteo France is notoriously wrong on a pretty consistent basis. Anyway, we'll be back at the beginning of the week sometime, so I hope to have plenty of pictures and stories, plus some pictures I took last week and I'm going to FINALLY do something with all the photos Stéph took in Romania, when we get back.

surrounded by calabrians

I've heard that the weather back home is unseasonably warm. Here in France, it's unseasonably cold! The highs have been hovering around 50° Fahrenheit, and while the last few days have been full of blue skies, it's gone all overcast today making it feel even cooler.

But I didn't want to talk about the weather today, but about a very international dinner we attended on Saturday night. As you may remember, Stéph visited Romania earlier this month to attend a project conference with schools in France, Romania, Italy, and Spain. There are actually two groups in this project, and the Romanians and Italians in the second group were in our area at the end of last week and visited Stéph's school on Friday. Saturday night there was a big dinner in Troyes and we were invited.

I got the opportunity to meet Stéph's boss (and coincidentally, the only other man working at Stéph's school!) and probably the second thing out of Stéph's mouth was, "Oh, did you know that some of my wife's family emigrated from Italy and her maiden name is Italian?" and I could have sunk under the floor. The last thing I wanted to do is give the impression of knowing more about Italy than I do, especially when it comes to language, but Stéph's boss was intrigued. He asked me where my family was from, and when I said Calabria, he got excited because he has Calabrian roots as well! Then we meet a colleague of Stéph's whose husband has roots in Calabria as well, and we ended up sitting across from them during dinner.

The truth is, we were about thirty, so we didn't really get to mix with a lot of people (I don't think I spoke to a Romanian all night, except to say hello and goodbye), but we had a great conversation with the colleague and her husband and a couple of other Italians that were sitting near us. The teacher sitting next to me, who was French, spent four years in America, the colleague went to America alone when she was 17 to visit some family that had emigrated there, and her husband told us stories about his Italian relatives that had emigrated to New York.

It was an enlightening dinner; I only wish I could say the same about the food itself. The restaurant is more known for welcoming groups for weddings or the like, but the food was pretty disappointing. It was a fixed menu supposedly highlighting food from our area, but the entrance was a salad with salmon and shrimp (thanks to our close proximity to the ocean, here in eastern France? WTF?) followed by an uninspired dish of pork cutlets and a cream sauce with potatoes and lardons that clearly came from the frozen section. They could have made up for this with the cheese course, and as much as I love chaorce, the locally produced cheese, throwing a slab of it on a piece of toast and calling it a day doesn't necessarily impress. The desserts were equally as unimpressive, with a simple raspberry mousse that surely came in packs of ten from the local frozen foods shop swimming in crème anglaise. If I told you how much we paid for this "culinary feast," you'd be quite shocked.

The funniest thing was that the Romanians were clearly ready to go before the dessert was even served. The money was gathered while we waited for the dessert to arrive and most of the Romanian party had their coats on before the coffee showed up.

The most surreal thing happened just before we left. As we were saying goodbye to everyone, an Italian woman was saying goodbye to me, and I remembered enough of my rudimentary Italian to say "arrivederci," and then she place a hand on my cheek and muttered "che bella," before she turned around and left. Now, I am not exactly renown for my beauty, but I found this so touching that I nearly ran after her for a hug!

a quiet week

It has been something of a quiet week here at DFF headquarters, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been busy. Just that there hasn't been too much worth sharing, or at least little time to share it.

Here's one little interesting note. I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but I am in the process of renewing my carte de sejour, which is the one year residence card, but since I've been here for three years now, I qualify for a carte de residence, or so they tell me. One way or another, this card is good for ten years of French livin', so they tend to take this one a little more seriously. Now, I know I've said before that one of the benefits of living in the country is that we don't have to go to the big Préfecture in Troyes to turn in my documents; we can do it at the town hall and then they send off the paperwork. Well, I got a message from the town hall a couple of weeks ago and I thought I might as well walk over there - it's only a five minute walk, after all. I thought they were going to give me my récépissé, or the little blue card that says my new card is in process which I have to carry around with my old card. Oh, but no! They needed more documents - a copy of Stéph's identification and a written declaration that we live together. This last one annoyed Stéph to no end - "They already have a copy of our livret de famille*, why do they need this?!"

So that was the day before Stéph went to Romania and I went to Paris, and then we kind of put it off for a few days, so it wasn't until this past Monday that I went back with the documents in my hot little hands. I finally got my blue paper, but I had another surprise - a little interview. I was shown into the administrative manager's office, where the following intensive interview took place:

"So, the Préfecture has asked me to talk to you to see how you're integrating in France. You've been here for how long?"

"Three years."

"And do you like it here?"

"Oh yes."

"Are you working?"

"No, I've found it difficult to find a job, but we're planning on moving closer to Paris next year because we think it will be easier there."

"And your husband, he works here in town?"

"Yes, he's a teacher."

"Mmhm. Well, it seems that your French is very good, I'd say you're integrating well, I think I can send back a positive report."

"Thank you!"

You can see I was sweating bullets. Actually, I kind of got the impression that he'd never had to do this sort of interview before. Foreigners are a bit thin on the ground in these parts.

So that was the excitement around here this week. Otherwise, I've been working on a project centered around fitness, which has actually prompted me to get out and walk a bit this week, plus I've been rolling along with the knitting, having just finished up my first pair of socks:



* A livret de famille is a little book that all French families have that has details about the wedding and the birthdates of their children.

What I did on my Parisian vacation

Sorry this is so late, life sort of caught up with me there. I thought about detailing my four days in Paris like I did for our summer vacation, but I ain't got that kind of time (and it would probably be quite boring) (and also? I ain't got that kind of time but I can still write one hell of a long post, can't I?), so here are some of the highlights:

Friends
I am so blessed that I have so many friends and acquaintances based in Paris that I couldn't possibly see them all over the course of four days, but I did get to see quite a few. My host was the totally awesome (wink) and always charming kylie mac, and we had a rip roaring time together. On Friday evening we hung out with rhino75, who showed me where to find a Whiskey Sour in Paris and made us howl with laughter. Saturday I visited the Coffee Table Studio and chatted away with Katia and kylie mac for hours and hours (the results are already posted - thanks for having me on the show, ladies!). Sunday I hung out with Flare and Sarah on a yarn shopping expedition and then chatted in Sarah's backyard with their sons Max and Felix over yummy munchies and tea. Monday night I got to meet JChevais. J has a laugh that can only be described as equal to mine (and those of you that know me personally will wonder at the force of two people that laugh like me) so we easily made nuisances of ourselves at O'Sullivan's Irish Bar over our alcohol and French BLTs. I think the only time we stopped talking was to eat or drink. That was a really fun meetup and I can't wait for the next one!

Food
I must make it very clear - I am not one of those Americans that goes on vacation and only eats familiar foods. That being said, one of the perks of visiting Paris is that I can indulge in all kinds of foods that remind me of home that I can't get in the backwoods of Champagne-land. I'm talking about really evil food, like bacon cheeseburgers, cheddar cheese omlettes with bacon on the side (although, I could probably make that omlette at home now that I have access to cheddar) and java chocolate chip frappuccinos. Yeah, I blew my diet out of the water for four days, but it sure tasted good!

The Sights
Usually when I visit Paris I'm there to visit friends, but this time I made sure to take the time to visit some museums I hadn't seen before. Kylie mac took me to the Musée Carnavalet, which covers the history of the city of Paris, and I enjoyed it so much that I went back Tuesday morning to see more, and I still didn't see everything. I highly recommend it, especially if you can take a whole afternoon to see as much as possible, plus it's free! Saturday night was Nuit Blanche in Paris. Nuit Blanche literally means "white night" but is also used to describe an all nighter, and this night most museums are open quite late and other activities are available all night. Kylie mac and I chose to check out the Louvre so I could see some stuff I hadn't seen before. Unfortunately, most of the precious treasures were secured for the night, so we couldn't see them, but I did get to see the Apartments of Napoleon III, which was especially interesting at night. Plus, as we left the Louvre around 11pm, the streets were coming alive with celebration because the French rugby team had just beat New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup (too bad we lost to England the following week!).

Shopping
Avoiding shopping in Paris is like avoiding getting cursed out in New York City - it happens and you just can't help it! This time I concentrated on increasing my yarn stash, and I definitely cashed in. Thanks to a tip on Ravelry, Flare, Sarah and I checked out Destocklaine, which features tons of different yarns at discount prices. Much of what you can find is acrylic but there are plenty of interesting finds if you're willing to dig. I got some yarn which I'm planning on turning into a sweater and some socks. I also went to check out Le comptoir in the 9th, which offers a lot of high quality yarn and accessories but little chance to fondle the yarns before purchase. If you like to fondle with your hands as well as your eyes before you purchase, this may not be the shop for you, but if you're already familiar with the yarn, this yarn boutique may be a good place to check out.

one year (part two)

I can't believe it's been one year already since Dad died. The weird thing about it is that I don't feel especially broken up about it, and I don't have an interesting story to tell like I did one year after my mother died. He's certainly in my thoughts, but I can honestly say that I think about him and Mom every day.

To be absolutely honest, I feel like he's still with me, like I can still hear his voice. That's not to say that I hear him like someone is physically present in the room, but I hear him in my thoughts. As long as I can still hear his voice, it's like he hasn't totally gone away.

But even this feeling that he is with me can't replace talking to him on the phone or going to visit him. Dad was always my go-to guy for advice or comfort or for a laugh and I miss that connection more than anything else. If I had a dollar for every time I wanted to call him and ask him the stupidest little question, I'd be a very rich woman.

So here's to you, Daddy-o. Your laugh, joie de vivre, sage advice and comfort are sorely missed.

aaaaaaaaaand we're back

Yep, I'm back from my whirlwind four and a half day tour of Paris. Man, what a great visit that was! Usually when I get to go there to catch up with friends, it's for a day and a half or a maximum of two days, but this trip gave me the luxury of actually getting out and doing some touristy things, not to mention a little shopping and loads of fun hanging out. I really need to try to get the house in order (I was working an a huge project and didn't have the time to do it before I left, much to my chagrin - isn't it always nicer to come home to a clean house after a few days away?) before I go to pick up Stéph from the train station this afternoon.

Two things happened today that I have to share, though. First is quite an exciting development - I'm wearing my skinny jeans!!! Of course, skinny is a relative term in this case, but these are my favorite worn in jeans that I've been carrying around with me for years hoping that one day I'd be able to get back in them and that day has come. They're not yet perfect and still a little muffin-toppy, but they're comfortable enough to wear and with the right top no one will know. I am so happy!!

Second thing is just funny - I had to run down to the corner store this morning so I went directly after hopping out of the shower with my hair still wet (I never use a hair dryer). The woman behind the counter is very nice and we've chatted during transactions in the past, but this morning she floored me - she actually told me I was going to catch a cold going out like that! I can't believe people actually believe this still. I said, Oh, it's alright, it's just five minutes, and she said, But that's all it takes! I thanked her, because really something you'd expect to hear from someone who cares about your welfare, but I thought the whole thing was funny.

Anyway, off to run the vacuum and other housewifely pursuits. More about Paris to come!

weekend wrapup

It was a pretty quiet week here at Dispatches From France Headquarters. Did a bit of work, got in a couple of walks, and much knitting was done in front of the tv. We did make sure to watch France take on Georgia (not that Georgia!) in the Rugby World Cup, and it was fun to watch France win. Only problem is, their next match is Saturday against the All Blacks. I don't like to be a pessimist, but that has the potential to be ugly. Poor Stéph is gonna miss it, flouncing around Eastern Europe (or sitting in a boring conference, more like) but maybe I'll catch a little of it while I'm in Paris. If nothing else, I'd like to see the All Blacks do the Haka. Oh, you don't know the Haka? You can see it here at the beginning of a New Zealand at France match in June (which bonus shots of Sébastien Chabal, the long haired, heavily bearded French player that runs over the opposition like a runaway train, not that I'm partial or anything).

Other than that, I am just so looking forward to spending a few days in Paris visiting friends this weekend that this week feels like it will be never ending. Luckily I've got plenty to keep me busy and hopefully not staring at the clock wishing that time would go faster.

Ooh, I do have something fun to share with you - Doc sent me a picture of the bunny with MP3, and it's good to know that the bunny really wasn't bigger than the baby, but only by a hare (get it? get it? bwahahahaha ha heh... meh).

three exciting developments

1. We saw on the news yesterday that primary schools will no longer have classes on Saturday mornings starting in 2008. What they're going to do with these four hours is still sort of up in the air. They could either decrease the summer holidays by two weeks or have classes on Wednesday mornings (primary schools in France have traditionally been closed on Wednesdays, as this was the traditional day for learning the catechism and preparing for First Communion). I don't think Stéph really cares which way they go; I think he'll just be happy to have his weekends back.

2. I found cheddar cheese at the grande surface grocery store I go to a couple of times a month! This is excellent news, as I don't have to beg it off friends or go searching for it in the next département over. I first noticed it when Stéph and I ordered the cheese platters for my niece's baptism, and I bought some yesterday. I'm happy to report that someone is buying it besides me, as the amount had certainly decreased in the week since I'd been there!

3. I got my invitation to Ravelry this morning! I won't have a lot of time to play there for a little bit because I'm kind of stacked up with work, but you can find me under the name "vivienfrance."

french beauty secret revealed!

At last! I finally learned a trick that I can share! And it comes from a most unlikely source. Here, lemme 'splain:

As you may or may not already know, the water in France is notoriously hard. It is so hard that special products can be bought to fight calcium deposits on nearly every thing that water touches - the dishwasher, the clothes washer, the shower, the sink, everything!

You know what else the water touches? My freakin' hair! Shortly after I moved here, I realized that I was going to have to change my hair washing habits in order to make my hair act "normal." In the states, particularly in the South, I enjoyed soft water and enough humidity to keep my hair naturally curly. This is actually a relatively recent phenomenon for me, as most of my life I brushed out my naturally wavy hair and finally decided to let it act natural, to usually nice results. My biggest problem was that the hair on the top of my head doesn't curl as much as the rest (just like my Dad's was).

I tried everything I could think of - expensive shampoos, conditioners for curly hair, after-shower products and still my hair felt fried and dry. At last, a few weeks ago, I found my saving grace in a magazine - the same one that my sister-in-law gave me a subscription for for my birthday. As soon as I read the article, I literally smacked myself on the forehead, because it seemed so obvious.

What do all the calcium fighting products have in common? Vinegar! For generations, French women have been passing down homebrewed vinegar recipes for hair, but now several companies have come out with vinegar based hair products for keeping hair free of calcium deposits. So the next time I went to the big grande surface shopping center, I found one of the brands mentioned in the article and brought it home.

The hair vinegar I bought is applied after the shower, and has a funny top with only a little hole for shaking out the vinegar (like table vinegar, which was bizarre) but I got around that by putting the liquid in a spray bottle. The first time I used it, it took me forever to get out all the tangles, but it has been easier and easier every time I've used it. I've been using it for a couple of weeks now, and my hair has never looked better (and it smells nice, too)! In fact, it's actually too soft - I'm going to start using it after every other shampoo to try and get it balanced.

I've been letting my hair grow out for a couple of years now, and I had gotten so desperate that I was seriously considering chopping it all off again. Now that I've got my secret weapon, I am at all systems go for hair growth! Thank you French magazine for sharing this most excellent beauty secret!

a baptism of a different sort

On Saturday, we gathered with the family and celebrated the baptism of my niece, C, who just turned one year old. This baptism didn't take place in a church; in fact, it didn't involve religion at all. What we witnessed was a civil baptism, which is possibly unique in France.

Created during Napoleon's reign, civil baptisms are rather rare today, and not every town hall in France offers it, but it's an option for families of mixed or non-Christian background or those that aren't particularly religious. The ceremony takes place in the town hall, is presided over by the mayor, and the parents choose a godfather and godmother who act just like a Christian godparent, except that instead of teaching about religion, they teach how to be a good citizen.

The ceremony takes all of ten minutes, which for us was extended to at least fifteen because we had a professional musician in - another niece, C, who plays the violin beautifully. Afterwards, we all headed to a rented hall, where we ate a simple buffet, drank lots of lovely wine, and even got a little silly with a karaoke machine.

Of course, I forgot my camera, but that's probably because I was preoccupied with remembering our gift:



Yet another knitted gift. This one is a baby shrug from Debbie Bliss Simply Baby. I think they liked it, but it's probably still a little too big, as I made it in the biggest size.

Anyway, it was a great excuse for a party and hang out with the family, and we had a great time, and it was well after midnight by the time we made it home.

booty shakin music

First of all, I just want to get out there that I found out yesterday that quilts are being accepted as donations, so that means that quilters are also invited to participate over at Tricot du coeur! If you're a quilter and want to play, head over to the site to find the size requirements and all that jazz. (Clare, you're excused, since you've already got your charity quilting project!)

So your reward for reading through that is this song. If this doesn't make you want to shake your money maker than I don't even want to know ya!

(Since my new layout isn't exactly you tube size friendly, I'm going to just link it: Go shake yer booty!)

in which vivi becomes a couch potato

Well, I don't think it's going to be quite that dire. But we did buy a little box today that will hopefully make our television watching a little more pleasurable. Lemme 'splain:

Every television has the capability to have six channels for free. Well, technically seven, but one of them is subscription only and is only free for a few hours a day. If you want more channels, you have two options: buy a satellite or a TNT box.

Satellite is really lovely, with hundreds of channels, even some in English. But I think if we did get a satellite, I really would become a couch potato. Plus I know I'd end up watching English channels for the majority of the time, and since I'm home alone a lot, I've actually picked up a lot of French by watching French television. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I like to put on the subtitles in French, because I still read French a little better than I understand spoken French.

Anyway, a lot of our friends have a TNT box, which decodes a dozen or more channels. Once you've bought the box, you have nothing else to pay. There aren't any channels in English, but something like eighteen additional channels for free, plus a handful of subscription channels if you want to add that on.

So today we bought one, came home and plugged it in. Super easy installation, and fifteen minutes later we were scrolling through our new channels. There are a couple of 24 hour news channels, two music channels (yay!!), and a handful of other random stuff. And I just passed a very nice afternoon knitting on the couch and watching music videos. I am very content.

And if that doesn't float your boat, here's a lovely photo of a cabbage float:



Also, don't forget that today is Talk Like A Pirate Day. Yar.

another weekend in the country

We had such a great time this weekend! The weather was perfect, the friends were fantastic and the food was unreal. Of course we were all there to celebrate the baptism of Doc's youngest, "MP3," and I helped out a little bit in that area.

Antipo and her son were there, along with the rest of the Frenchie gang, and Saturday night we dined on unbelievable chicken columbo, Doc and Antipo's very special karma sutra eggplant, and Doc's super evil tiramisu, which smacked me around and call me its bitch and then lodged directly on my hips.

Sunday morning we all got gussied up and headed to church. Since I would be indisposed, I gave Stéph the camera but forgot to tell him about my special anti-blur technique, so you can guess how the majority of the photos came out. It's too bad too, because he's got an excellent eye and there were a bunch of photos that would have been very cool, if only they weren't blurry. Ah well. Thanks to Doc and Stéph's coaching, I was prepared when the Deacon asked the Godfather and I what our duties were (I mean, I know, but they saved me from getting stuck on the spot), and I got the hold the receiver when MP3 was getting her little head doused. And good gracious, what a cutie she is!

Then we all went to Doc and Marc's "other house," and I think if you read her blog you'll know what I'm talking about, for a nice big fat French lunch which lasted four hours. Now, I personally think the French celebrate in the best way - plenty of good food, nice long chats with friends, taking a pause outside between courses, and of course, eating all those delicious things you're not otherwise allowed to eat, or drink for that matter. It was glorious.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to stay until the presents were opened, but I can exlusively reveal what I made for little MP3:



I think it's bigger that she is!

Anyway, thank you as always, Doc and Marc, for a great weekend and for the big honor. We enjoyed it!

color me jealous

Stéph got confirmation this week that he's going to a teacher's conference at the beginning of October. It sounds like there will be teachers from several European countries there, and he'll be gone for five days. The kicker is that this conference will take place in Romania.

Yeah, you heard me: ROMANIA. I'm so jealous I could spit.

At least while the cat's away, this mouse can go play in Paris. So I guess it's not all bad.

This afternoon we'll be heading over to Doc's for the baptism festivities. Y'all have a great weekend!

a very big, special and exciting announcement!

Oh my god, y'all, I'm so excited!

*ahem*

So a few weeks ago, I was Skyping (that's a real word now, isn't it?) with my sister and she asked me if I would be interested in knitting a blanket for charity. At first, she only told me it was for a children's camp in North Carolina and I'd have until next Spring to finish it. Hell, I figured even I could finish a blanket in seven months, so I said yes.

Well, then I learned more about Victory Junction Gang and the good work they're doing and I thought to myself, "Self, I should mention this on the blog and then maybe some of my knitting friends will make blankets, too!" I told my sister that, and she laughed and said that she had hoped I would. What can I tell you, I'm totally predictable.

But then I got ambitious. What if I made a big website about it, and had a big prize drawing, and then we could make a whole bunch of blankets for these kids? So I contacted some of my favorite artists, and they agreed to donate some really cool prizes, and Tricot du coeur was born.

So! That's the rilly, rilly big news! Even if you're not a knitter or a crocheter, please take a sec and check out the new site and see what we're all about (because you can win a prize, too!). I think we're gonna have a good time, and it's for a really fantastic cause.

Ta-da!

shopping for clothes still sucks

Ben, oui. In Pursuits I Try To Avoid, clothes shopping still ranks up there with cleaning the toilet and ironing. Despite the fact that I've lost nearly twenty pounds, I'm still having trouble finding clothes that look decent on my frame. Yesterday was a major reality check - if I think I'm fluffy now, I must have been a monstrous cow four months ago. Luckily, instead of consoling myself in a tub of ice cream (you may laugh but I damn near did it), it only spurred me on to continue getting in better shape. Hooray for encouragement!

To be honest, it isn't just my body that is impeding the search for a new set of clothes. All the latest styles are charming and cute, but they're just not right for me. This is for two reasons: over sized tops and leggings only make me look eight months pregnant (and I'd much rather BE eight months pregnant than LOOK eight months pregnant), and didn't I already do over sized tops and leggings once? Oh yeah! Back in EIGHTH GRADE. Pfft. I'm all for recycling styles but this one hitting a little too close to home!

So the reason for all this clothes drama is that I'm going to a baptism this weekend. And it's not just any baptism, oh no! Not only is it for MP3, Doc's youngest, but Doc has asked me to be Godmother. I don't know what Doc was smoking the day she decided to ask me, but I'm touched beyond words that she did and I'm really looking forward to it.

So after striking out in five different shops, I've decided to just work with what I've got and maybe run back out tomorrow to add to what I've got. I'll need comfy (yet dressy!) clothes anyway, since it's impossible to leave Doc's table without unbuckling your belt because she cooks so damn well.

current projects

Well, it looks like the school year is off to a good start. Stéph is enjoying being back in elementary school and it looks like he's going to have a much less stressful year this year. It's kind of early to tell, but so far it seems like changing from special education to elementary school was a good move, regardless of our future plans.

As for me, I've got a few irons in the fire. I've got plenty of assignments to keep me busy for the moment, plus I'm gearing up for some new knitting projects, not to mention finishing a few off that have been sitting around for a while. Of course, they're all gifts, so I can't show them to you until they've been received (someday I might get to make something for myself!) but I'll be taking pictures before they go off to their new homes. One is all done and just had a bath, so as soon as that one is dry, it's heading off to the States, another one is all done but the seaming, and I've got another little project that I'll get finished up this week.

Looking ahead to new projects, I've been kind of floundering around trying to decide what to do when my yarn options are so bland and predictable here. I don't know why I never took to it before, but I finally dug in and took a look at yarn on eBay. Not only did I find some really interesting stuff, I've bid on a few things and I've already won something! Hopefully it will be here in the next couple of weeks. I'm still not working on anything for me - I've got one Christmas present I'm going to start on, plus I'm making the switch from baby sweaters to adult sweaters. Stéph has asked for a cardigan, of all things, and you would not believe how hard it is to find patterns for decent men's cardigans. Maybe there's a good reason for that. Hm.

Anyway, I've been working on another huge project that I can't wait to tell you all about. It's in the final stages now, hopefully I'll be making a great big huge exciting announcement by the end of the week. I know, my great big huge announcements aren't usually very big or exciting, but this one is a doozy. And there are prizes involved. Really nice ones, too. So keep a lookout for that.

warm fuzzies

It's one thing when someone sings your praises and you don't acknowledge it (especially when it was back in April, quelle honte!), but when someone else does it as well, you'd be a fool not to follow it up.

Clare and Kinga have presented me with an Inspirational Blogger Award and a Courageous Blogger Award, respectively. And now, according to the rules of Ye Olde Meme, I've got to pass the honor along to five more bloggers. (You can find out more about this meme here.



I have a feeling that she's already been awarded a similar award, but I still want to draw your attention to bleeding espresso. Sognatrice writes beautiful posts about her life in Calabria and has created a wonderful interactive community on her blog. She makes me want to be a better blogger and also remember to savor this experience of living in a new country.





I'm awarding two awards to one blogger (because it's my blog and I can) to Jennifer at No Place Like It. Not only is she a wonderful artist and illustrator, but she is going through some real earth shattering stuff right now and is blogging about it, which in my book is way beyond courageous. I know what it feels like to put that personal stuff out there - it can be terrifying and liberating at the same time. Plus, she's doing it with class.



I know, I know, I'm doing it wrong, but I'm awarding one of my awarders! Clare has another blog called Quilts 4 Leukaemia. She has already been given this award, but if nothing else I want to help promote the good work she is doing. If you're a sewer or a quilter, check out her blog to find out how you can help create a quilt for a child suffering from Leukemia.



Finally, for the Thoughtful Blogger Award, I want to give a shoutout to Lisanne at Bathtub Junkie. Lisanne is a Mom, a scrapbooker, a graphic designer and all around crafty gal who always takes the time to respond to comments and leaves lovely comments on the blogs she visits. I wish I could be more like her in my responses as well (although I try, really!).

And as for me, I just want to thank Clare and Kinga for thinking of me! I don't feel especially inspirational or courageous, but I'll take an award wherever I can get it! No, seriously, thank you both very much, I was really very touched.

C'est la rentrée !

Well, technically "the re-entry" is tomorrow, when children head back to school, but teachers report today for a full day of meetings in preparation for the kids, so in our house, la rentrée is today!

La rentrée isn't just Back to School time, but because so many companies close for several weeks in August, it's the time for everyone to get back to work. It's the signal that summer is over, and everyone is back from vacation and focusing again on their jobs.

In the past, the first week of school has been a little difficult for me, because after two months of spending every day with Stéph, suddenly he's gone and I'm left to my own devices again for a large part of the day. It can get a little lonely, and on more than one occasion I've found myself bored out of my mind. This time, however, I've got plenty to keep me busy, thank goodness. Just like Stéph, I'm ready to focus and get down to work.

While we're getting down to work, I hope everyone in the States is enjoying their last day of summer! Have a great Labor Day!

two three-year anniversaries

Yesterday marked three years since I arrived in France. Three years already! I have to tell you , I'm not quite where I want to be yet - still not 100% comfortable with the language (but I'm getting there!) and still haven't found a job here (though hopefully we're moving in the right direction to make that happen). Still, France feels like home now. We celebrated yesterday by turning in all the necessary documents for my new carte de sejour, or my residence card. If everything goes well, I should be holding a card that will be good for ten years in my hot little hands in a few months.

Tomorrow, Sunday, marks the three year anniversary of Dispatches From France. I continue to marvel at how much having a blog has enriched my life - it gives me an outlet to describe what living here is like, while I've literally made friends from around the world. I want to sincerely thank all of you who stop by to take a peek into my world, whether it's your first time here or you've been visiting since the beginning. I feel like every comment left is a connection, whether you're down the street or on another continent. Thank goodness for the internet - the world would be a much lonelier place without it. Thanks for coming along on my journey, and I can't wait to see where the next three years take us!